Another Thursday..Another Tiyul...

One of the great things about studying in Israel is that we often have the opportunity to learn about historical events and culture from visiting historical sites. A few weeks ago we went to an unnamed ancient city and to Lachish where a very significant battle took place between the Assyrians and the Kingdom of Judea in 701 BCE.  It was so neat to look at the geography and see first hand how that affected historical events. I surprisingly really like geography and really like society, so seeing how the two have effected each other over time is really neat. Plus I always love learning outside of the classroom. The neatest thing in the pictures above is the picture on the bottom left which is a dove/pigeon cave. kind of like a modern day chicken coop. It was easier to keep the birds underground where it was cool and there was more space. Birds even live in it today! We spent a lot of time on this particular trip in caves and its amazing how old and elaborate the underground infrastructure is. People stored water underground, cooked underground, had stores and stored their pigeons! So very different from the way we lead our lives today............Thanks HUC for the eye opening historical experience!

Birthday Extravaganza!

So this year in Jerusalem I was fortunate to be surrounded by friends new and old for my birthday.  It was a wonderful day from the very beginning when my roommate Rena surprised me with a birthday omelet!! Bailey bought me coffee an my friend Leah even got me a chocolate croissant! I was showered by lovely gifts and the warmth of new, fantastic friends. I had never experienced school before on my Aug. 6th birthday. I must admit I prefer the quiz-less birthdays but my friends made class fun none-the-less. My hebrew buddy Zach made me a flower crown out of paper towels so that i could fulfill the Israeli  custom of having flowers in my hair on my birthday? At least thats what it tells you to do in their birthday song. That evening some HUC friends and I met up with my friend Jenny and we went to one of my favorite cafes called Timol Shishon where we got Shashuka! Yum! Also we had amazing milkshakes for dessert!

The next day the celebration continued that the HUC Beit Kafe (talent show) where my friends Rae and Daniel presented me with an AMAZING chocolate coffee Kailua cake that was like fancy restaurant quality with a penguin on it. incredible. After the talent show much of my class went out dancing to celebrate, so fun! I feel so grateful to have made such warm and caring friends in such a short amount of time (and i feel grateful that jenny is so close!!!!). I can already tell that 26 is going to be an amazing year and much of that will be because of all the wonderful people in it. Thanks everyone! 

Sheva Chaya's Studio

One of the best highlights of Tzfat was visiting Sheva Chaya's studio where we had the opportunity to watch a glass demonstration. Sheva Chaya is a painter and glass artist, originally from Colorado but she is now living in Tzfat and has an amazing studio and gallery space. During her presentation she told us her story and how she came to love art. Her story felt so familiar to me and it was amazing how she connects traditional jewish texts for her inspiration and motivation towards her art. I know many jews and many artists but rarely do I have the opportunity to encounter such a passionate jewish artist who is so knowledgeable about how to weave texts into her understanding of art, glass and her world. After the presentation I introduced myself and hopefully we will find a time this year where we can study together. She has so much to offer and I have so much to learn. Stay tuned! I really hope that this idea can become a reality! 

Journey to Tzfat

 

 A few weeks ago a few friends and I rented a car and drove up to Tzfat. A tiny artsy, spiritual town nestled in the hills above the Kineret. Tzfat is beautiful and lovely. we got there Friday morning just in time for lunch and to be privy to the hustle and bustle of the city pre-shabbat. We wondered around the artist quarter and found beautiful jewelerly and paintings. It was wonderful. There was a man there who did fused glass work and I literally just starred at his tools and scraps of glass. The town is known for the blue doors and there were many paintings and post cards that displayed them. The old city of Tzfat is truly beautiful. Lots of old stone, beautiful flowers, blue door fixings and lots of art. 

One of the amazing things about Tzfat is not just how beautiful the city is but also the warmth of the hospitality of all the people who we met. I personally didn't know anyone who lived in Tzfat but one of my friends knew one girl, our age, who then made a bunch of phone calls and found not only a family who would house us for the night but also another family for lunch the next day. Later, our host family found a place where we could go for Shabbat dinner and my friend had a friend who could host us for Sudah Shishit, a third meal, Shabbat afternoon. It was incredible! so many people who were going out of their way to host FIVE american strangers. All our meals were delicious and people were kind. We had some fascinating conversations throughout our time there. Overall the population in Tzfat is very observant and my peers found it hard to navigate how/if to tell our hosts that they were becoming rabbis (specifically because they are female). The few times they choose to engage in this conversation is was met with many questions and some apprehensions. One asked why would we specifically choose the word "Rabbi" is there a different word that they could use instead? Part of the challenge is that not only were gender roles a topic of different understanding but so was how we choose to practice our Judaism. Many of the individuals we met had not known practicing Reform Jews and have little experience of the roles or expectations of a Reform Rabbi. These conversations were not easy and force us to articulate our Reform Jewish Identity in a way that many of us hadn't before. The people who we talked with were respectful. The man who we stayed with who we had the most extensive conversation with agreed that by after Shabbat, he still felt the same way he had felt in the beginning but that we had opened his eyes to thinking in a different way and he was pleased to met such passionate young women who would lead the Jewish people. We decided that was a little victory. 

Overall, I loved visiting Tzfat. I was captivated by the beauty, the nature and the passion of the people towards their judaism and towards each other. I also loved seeing a community where art and nature was so prevalent in their Jewish Practice. Hopefully I will go back again, I feel like the community has a lot to teach me, especially about art and I enjoyed a restful and filling shabbat where I felt like I was able to indulge in a true day of rest. 

Big Bamboo!

 

 After our field trip at the Israel Museum a few of us went to go play on a structure called "Big Bamboo!" It was incredible. Reminded me so much of the City Museum in St. Louis and the drift wood sculpture thing I climbed in Sweden. I was amazed that they made such a tall sound structure with just bamboo and cables! We climbed to the top and found ourselves a couch. Bailey and I talked for awhile and then I started randomly talking to these young Israeli girls who joined us. They were 10 and one was born in St. Louis! Bailey couldn't stop laughing. These coincidences  seem to happen to me a lot.  One of the other amazing parts about this structure was the incredible view! we were there right as the sun was setting and it was amazing to see all of Jerusalem stone shimmer. It truly is a beautiful city. Another fun thing that happened is I ran into a TBS student of mine was was on her trip with Young Judea! I didn't even know that she was in Israel!! Such a fun and neat structure and a great place to play after a long day of school. Hopefully I can go back again soon!

Graffiti Tour with T'urah

 

So this blog post is way over due but I haven't been in the head space to write about the political situation in Israel so I felt like waiting a bit. As I think everyone knows right now, this summer has been a pretty challenging time to be in Israel due to the conflict in Gaza. Also, if you have Facebook, then you have probably realized that everyone has a opinion, or three. In Israel,  one way to express political opinions is through graffiti. What's interesting about the graffiti is although it is mostly crated by leftest progressives occasionally you can find or read something from another point of few. It's everywhere and it challenges itself. It's way more artistic and fascinating than Facebook but kind of shares the same dilemma of the situation. 

There is an organization called T'urah: the rabbic call for human rights. They put on events for Rabbi's and Rabbinical students (and ED students!) so that we can be exposed to a wide variety of topics concerning human rights in Israel.  The first event was a graffiti around the city center. It was so neat to look at the pictrures on the bildings that we see everyday and think about them in a whole new light. Talking about grafeeitt quickly became a conversation that resembled a text study. Evryone had differnt interpretations and diffferent ideas about what the arisit could be refrencing. Some of the  graffiti we saw did have biblical refrences which was neat to see and read. 

One piece that stuck with me was the one featured in the picture on the top right, "Hakol Beseder" Hakol Besder is a phrase I probably say every day. It means "all is ok" and we talked about this one for awhile in whether or no the artist crested this with a sarcastic tone or not. One of my peers said that she had seen this on bus stops and felt that it was a call to remind people that all is, HaKol Beseder and that no one should be worried about riding the bus. Others felt as if it was talking about the Jerusalem bubble. How can we act as if all is ok, when things in Israel are truly not ok? We live our day to days lives with very little interaction with the terror that is happening 3 hours away. What does it mean for all to be "ok?" Right now Jerusalem continues to be safe, I continue to live my personal day to day life in peace. However, when I see the graffiti i know how lucky am I to be able to say that right now things for me are, HaKol Beseder..

top left: Little boy with gun

top right: HaKol Beseder

Bottom Left: Quote about wanting to get with a girl but then not having the courage to say anything except for, "do you have a light" - felt very Israeli/ universal  to me

Bottom Right: War is not hummus (interpret this for yourself!)